The 23-year-old is also in the process of enhancing his connection with the fans through his own web site -- Chris-Bosh.com. Having seen the success his "Vote Chris Bosh to New Orleans" video had, he has put out another video, this one aimed at a specific target, the basketball crazies over at RealGM.com, a web site for only the most passionate basketball fans.

"Me and my business partner had the idea," Bosh said. "We know that RealGM has a big community and a lot of people look at that stuff so we thought why not direct a personal message at everyone and let them know I am interested in my web site, I'm very hands-on and they can choose to participate in it."

Smack in the middle of one of the busier portions of their schedule -- four games in five nights -- the Raptors' practice yesterday was kept rather light. Head coach Sam Mitchell said the Raptors are able to do this because they keep change to a minimum.

"The good thing about what we do and what we try to do defensively especially, is we know our principals so we don't have to go change everything if we have four games in five days," Mitchell said. "This is how we play, these are the things we are going to do. Now we tweak it but we don't make any major changes."

The Raptors catch a break tonight in one sense because the Hawks, for all their talent — in the form of Al Horford, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams, they might have the market cornered on skilled 6-foot-10 players aged 22 and under — are the worst three-point-shooting team in the NBA, connecting on 31 per cent of those attempts, compared with the Raptors, who lead the league at 41 per cent.

To hear Mitchell tell it, he's willing to live with this one statistical glitch as long as his team can hold opponents to a reasonable shooting percentage overall and keep them off the free-throw line.

"I never really saw that many leaders, to be honest with you, so I don't know how to handle it. People can give you advice and tell you, but you're not going to know how to do it because you have to have your own personality."

He does not stand up before a big game or after a bad loss and point fingers, or pump out Knute Rockne-like inspirational speeches. In fact, speaking is the hardest thing about leading for Bosh. And so he speaks softly, preferring to pull up a chair beside a colleague in need of a chat, rather than airing a grievance for all to hear.

"You are not going to see a whole lot of screaming and hollering at guys," teammate Anthony Parker says. "He is a guy that is going to pull somebody aside and say it in a positive way, and I think it goes a lot farther that way."

Parker says the most remarkable thing about Bosh might be his birth certificate. He may be a veteran of five seasons, but Bosh is still an NBA baby at age 23.

“You wonder why I am so cynical,” Mitchell growled. “We win four out of five games … we hold them to, how many points did they score? [the answer is 91].
“And we score 116, and you got an f----- bug up your ass because (Kings point guard) Mike Bibby hit some threes.
“Y’all, Mike Bibby’s going to make some threes, and news flash — Kevin Martin — they didn’t give him US$13-million because they like how he looks.
“They gave him US$13-million because he can play.”

"If we draft a guy high, and if he's not platinum the day we get him, you all start writing that he was a bad pick. He was a bust," Mitchell said. "You all start killing the guy. Then you all start killing the guy who drafted him. Then you all start killing the coach because he hasn't developed him, instead of saying, some guys develop quicker than others. There's no patience with young players."

Mitchell then pointed out how successful second-round picks, such as Michael Redd, have more time to develop because of lesser expectations.

Raptors fans, though, haven't gotten past it. Ford hasn't played since that
night. And blogs and message boards have been lit up ever since with biting comments about both Horford and the Hawks in anticipation of Friday's contest.